echoing in a canyon there is a gathering storm in the distance....the rumble of thunder....bolts of lightening illuminating the darkened clouds whispering of a cultural purge.
lacking in kindness and generosity of spirit...tyrants, bullies and brutes always choose an easy target that is weak in numbers.... this time they're going after the 'T' as in the Trans of the LGBTQ acronym...
as though ordained from on high the far right neo-conservatives along with members of the religious-right seek to inflict their version of moral righteousness.... it can only be described as an attempt at a cultural purge. oddly enough statistics show 20+ years ago America was 90% christian. these days the figure is down to 60%....so the action by the religionists is done out of fear...they are losing their power-base and they know it.
the past week i came across a quantified study regarding the trans-community printed in the NYT....some alarming facts jump out.
Feb. 7, 2024
Transgender and nonbinary Americans experience stark rates of unemployment and harassment, according to the largest survey of their life experiences to date...The data reflect a longstanding pattern of discrimination at a time when states across the country have passed laws restricting their health care, bathroom access and participation in sports
The National Center for Transgender Equality, an advocacy group, carried out the latest iteration of the survey in late 2022. ...a preliminary analysis from responses to the survey’s 600 questions. It also skewed young, with 43 percent of the respondents ages 18 to 24. "You don’t see data sets like this,” Sandy James, an attorney and the lead researcher of the new survey, said in a press briefing. “Tens of thousands of trans people knew that it was imperative that they make their voices heard.”
Many respondents reported financial challenges. Eighteen percent of survey respondents said they were unemployed, much higher than the national rate
fact: many trans people find themselves drawn to the erotic industry because they 'can't' find 'normal' jobs in the 'traditional' work sector.
curently the national unemployement rate is robustly low 3.7%...vs 18% of trans people.
one-third (33%) said they had experienced homelessness at some point in their lives. More than one-quarter (25%) reported not seeing a doctor when they needed to in the previous year because of high costs.
i would add no job ...often means ...no health insurance...
Nearly one-third (33%) of survey respondents said they had been verbally harassed in the previous year, and three percent of respondents said they were physically attacked in the last year because of their gender identity.
Since the 2015 survey, state legislatures have grown considerably more hostile toward L.G.B.T.Q. people, with restrictions on health care for minors and adults, library books, bathroom access, sports participation in schools and gender identification on legal documents. State legislatures are now considering nearly 400 such bills, accdording to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Nearly half of the 2022 survey respondents said that they had considered moving in the previous year because of restrictive bills passed or introduced in their state, and 5 percent said they had moved.
Sixty percent of teenagers reported mistreatment at school, including verbal harassment, physical violence and online bullying, as well as being barred from using their chosen names, pronouns or the bathroom matching their gender identity. Minors were also more likely than adults to report having family members who were not supportive of their gender identity, and 5 percent said that family members had been violent toward them because they were transgender.
...
a doctor's observation: “A steady condition, environment, has been created in which people are not able to thrive,” Dr. James said. “And trans people are trying to move through their lives, as anyone else in the United States wants to do.”
...
from the social media platform 'Medium'...a person's clarion call observation...
absolutely the best blog that tracks trans-legislation...
...
some good news...
But they also reported positive experiences. An overwhelming majority of respondents — nearly 94 percent — said they were more satisfied with their lives since transitioning. Among those receiving hormones, 98 percent said the treatments had made them more satisfied with life.
...
the transgendered isn't the only group that's being targeted.
Ms. Magazine.
Dear Friend,
This week, Contributing editor Carrie Baker takes a deep dive into what “Project 2025” would mean for women’s and LGBTQ+ people’s lives. The project is a Heritage Foundation-led plan for the next Republican president to use in securing reactionary government policies by “eliminating the agencies and offices responsible for enforcing civil rights laws and placing trained right-wing ideologues in staff positions throughout the federal government.
”The plan, which includes an 887-page policy agenda, a presidential personnel database of vetted ultra-conservatives, and a playbook for the first 180 days of their long-awaited second Trump presidential term should he win and take office in 2025, promises attacks on women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, closing the border, and implementing a total ban on abortion, among other things.
Although some of their objectives might seem far-fetched, their determination to ban abortion nationwide is within reach.
As Shefali Luthra and Mel Leonor Barclay detail in an article for The 19th*, actions like forcing the FDA to withdraw its approval of the abortion medication mifepristone, forcing the enforcement of the Comstock Act to prevent the mailing of abortion pills and any other equipment or medications, and refusing to hold accountable anti-abortion extremists who harass clinics are all ways a Republican administration could restrict abortion.
As if we needed any of this, given the current reticence of Republicans in Congress to even gesture at supporting the rights and needs of women and their families.
A tax bill that would support expanding the Child Tax Credit—helping an estimated 16 million children this year and lifting 400,000 out of poverty—is likely to be blocked by Republicans in the Senate.
“I think passing a tax bill that makes the president look good mailing out checks before the election, means he could be re-elected and then we won’t extend the 2017 tax cuts,” Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley told a reporter this week.
If the forces behind Project 2025’s number one goal of “restor[ing] the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect[ing] our children” are really so invested in protecting children, you’d think the politicians that they back would be more than happy to support a tax credit that would lift 400,000 out of poverty. That they are not lays bare the hypocrisy at the core of their agenda.
If you’re looking for some lighter reading this weekend, check out Ms. contributor Jackson Katz’s piece on the Super Bowl and the political power of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. While Swift’s political sway has been widely acknowledged, Katz posits that Kelce has even greater potential to influence young men.
“When traditionally successful men like Kelce support liberal and progressive causes and candidates—especially when they do so openly and unapologetically—they help to provide a ‘permission structure’ for young men to vote for Democrats, including Joe Biden,” he writes.
“This could be a nightmare scenario for MAGA well beyond November.”
Whether you’re spending this weekend tuning in to the Super Bowl or studying up for your state’s primary—or both!—we hope you’ll spend some time with Ms.
For equality,
Katnhy Spollar..executive editor, Ms. Magazine.
you cant make this stuff up... more republican congressmen have been arrested in bathrooms for assault than trans-people...
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Womens rights and those of the LGBTQ community are linked....they are one in the same and should be considered 'human' rights...
one combats the effort of legislating morality... not by being silent but rather by standing up and being counted...
why it matters when celebrities come out?
because they have a platform and through their actions they tell others it is 'alright' to be yourself... and don't allow others to tell you who you 'have to be' or how to live your life....
....it would seem that personal freedom now has been put in peril....
personally i believe the LGBTQ tent is like a sail spread wide to catch the marginalized often left behind in society for their sexual orientation... the truth is both Women and members of the Gay community are rightfully so simply seeking an expression of identity backed up by law...
...
in conclusion deep within that place where myth resides in the heart of all of us...where at our core... that place that expresses the fuller eternal quest for finding love and living an authentic life...it is part of the sweep of the human condition to embrace the identity of 'your' choice...
surely for some they are aching for a life they can never have... the obstacles of coming out as 'Gay' are too great...family, friends, career whatever the reason the price to pay is too high for them.
when you wish upon a star ....makes no difference who you are....just remember carry it with you always...no matter how far... peace, alyssa
a sad reflecti0on on modern USA hopefully it's a bit better this side of the pond but could easily go the same way. Brianna Ghey's mum Esther breaks silence on trans row whipped up by Keir Starmer (msn.com) as this article shows i feel.